Flexible ice tray



March 4, 1952 F. s. JAHN ET A1. 2,587,852

FLEXIBLE ICE TRAY Filed Oct. 5, 1948 I N VEN TORS FQED .5'. JHN JOSE/-lf7. CH2M/EN JOHN E. MULL//VGS 5y IMQ A M AV700/VE# Patented Mar. 4,1.952

UN ITE'D STATES PATENT OFFICE Fred. S. Jahn and Joseph A.. Carmien, LosAngeles, and John E;.Mul1ings,F Pacific, Palisades, Calif, assignors toNew Plastic Corporation; Losy Angeles, Calif., a corporation of`California Applicationctober, 5, 1948', Serial No. 52-,882

1` Claim.

This invention relates to refrigerator trays such as employedinhousehold refrigerators, for freezing small. blocks of ice to` be usedin mixing cold drinks, or the like. The invention particularly `concernsthe -construction of a tray vof this type that is intended to be made ofa. wal1, .or walls., composed of a material thatl is flexible andextensible.

One. of the objects, of the invention is to give the tray features ofform that will co-operate to facilitate the removal of the cubes of icethat are formed in its` cells, when the ltray isremoved from therefrigerator. To this end, one of the objects of the inventionl is` toprovide the tray with features of construction that will co-operate toenable thetray to be held inan invertedv position and then` forced intoa bowed state by exerting pressure on its upper side to force it down,and upward pressure` at its ends, thereby distorting the tray into anarcuate formwith the convex side of the arc disposed downward, and theconcave side of the arc disposed upward. In this way, the widthof thecells measured longitudinally of, the tray, at their filling openings ormouths. will become increased, which will de velop Vforces extendinglongitudinally of theA tray to pull the transverse dividing Wallsof the`tray away from the sidesof the ice blocks that extend transversely 'tothe longitudinal axis of the tray.

Heretofore, it hasV been the practice to construct refrigerators toreceive trays suchas the tray referredto, in a freezing pocket whichpresents, a- Vertical space just high enough Ato permitthe tray to beintroduced; and usually there is a second freezing.; pocket j-ust` abovea` lower pocket, having: its own bottom to support. a second tray abovealower tray. However, it Vhas become thepracticein manufacturing somerefrigerators, to omit this bottomlwall, for the upper tray, so that theupper tray must be supported directly on the lower tray. One of theobjects of this invention is toprovide a tray that will ful.- ll therequirements and accomplishthe objects referred to above but whichat thesame time, will have features of construction. that will enable twotrays embodying the invention, to be placed one abovethe other whenfilled with water and placed in a refrigerator.

A further object of the invention lis to provide the walls of the trayswith features that will operate to enable the cells of the` trays to -befilled all to the saine level.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The-,invention consists in the novel parts and Fig. 1 is a Side view ofa` tray embodying this invention, the middle portion Whereof'is shown inelevation while the endv portions are shown in longitudinal section.

Fig. 2` is a vertical section taken in ayertical plane substantially asindicated by the dotted line ZMZ` shown on Figs. 1 and 3;4 vIn this viewthe upper portion of the lower tray isshown in .section and broken away,andthe location ofthe side walls of the., freezing pocket areindicated'.

Fig. 3 is an isometric projection illustrating the outer end `of thisrefrigerator tray withthe inner portionof the, tray brokenfaway.

Fig. t` is-aside elevationon asmall scale, illustrating how the tray`is, manipulated; by bending it into bow formwhile invertedlto facilitatethe ejectionofthe ice cubes.

Referring more particularly to the parts, I' in,- dicates anembodimentof` a. tray constructed in accordance with our invention.v Itl pneferablyconsists` of` an elongated body formed-cfa suitable plasticmaterial. For this, purpose rubber, vinyl, or any other suitableplasticmaybe employedJ if the material ,has the ,required amount of flexibilityand extensibility.. The tray illustrated. has` two lateral4 side walls2f and 3; the former of which in vertical section is indicated in Fig.2. .'I"l1ese..side` walls are connected. by transverse wallsd, that,asshowninliig. 1,. are com-mon to thevcells thatthey separate. The endsof. :these: Walls areintegla'lly united tothe sidewalls 2 and 3, `andare integralV with` 'the lower portions of the transverse wallsof thecells. They: dividethe interior of the tray into a plurality ofcells 5andvin the,.presentinstanca.the tray is formed with .-a,longitudinalpartit'ion wall 61 which is integrally .united to. the`transverse walls and integrally unitedto the-.end` walls T andc ofthetray. The for-wand walltvlj'of the tray is preferably formed with aforwardly, and downwardly projecting danse-or. hook. 9;, which provides`a finger space I0 onyits under side to enable the .tray tobedrawnoutfrom the freezing pocket Linthe refrigerator. The cells 5' havethe-usual upper openings or mouths lit-throughwhic'h water may 'owto'fll` the cells; If desired;

the upper edges of the transverse walls may be formed with notches I2which open communication between all of the cells so that by providingenough water to bring the level above the lower edges of these notches,the cells will all be lled tothe same level; and in order to effectcommunication from the set of cells that are locatedon one side of thelongitudinal partition Wall 6 with the cells on the other side of thispartition wall, we prefer to provide the partition wall 6 with twonotches I3 located near the Vend walls of the tray.

The side walls 2 and 3 are substantially parallel with each other andmay if desired, be disposed entirely in a vertical plane. However, inorder to facilitate the removal of the cubes from the cells, we preferto have the lower portions of the cells taper in a downward direction.In other words, at the bottoms I4 of the cells the horizontalcrosssection of each cell is smaller than its cross-section at a higherlevel. In Fig. 4 we illustrate one of the trays as though held in aninverted position and bowed downwardly at its middle portion by exertingpressure atY the four points indicated by the arrows I5. In order toexert the pressure at the four points indicated by the arrows, it ismerely necessary for a person holding the tray, to place his fingersunder the ends of the tray and press upwardly at about the location ofthe lower arrows, and at the same time press downwardly with his thumbsat about the location of the upper arrows which are located nearer tothe middle of the tray than the lower arrows are. In other words, thismanipulation of the tray consists in bowing it downwardly at its middleportion in its longitudinal medial plane, that is to say, in a verticalplane substantially coinciding with the partition wall 6, with thispartition wall and the side walls or lateral walls held in asubstantially vertical plane.

When the tray is bowed in the manner illustrated, it will be evidentthat tensile forces will occur in lower parts of longitudinal walls 2,3, and 6. which will cause the mouths of the cells to increase in widthmeasured in a direction parallel with the vertical plane in which thetray is moved. These tensile forces of course tend to pull thetransverse walls of the tray away from the transverse sides or faces ofthe cubes of ice in the cells, and by shaking the tray while in thisposition, it should usually be possible to cause the ice cubes to fallout of the tray as illustrated at I6 in Fig. 4, in which the cubes areillustrated falling into a shallow receptacle or pan I'I above which thetray is held when being manipulated as described.

When the tray is distorted into this bowed position, it will be evidentthat compressive forces may be developed adjacent to the concave edge I8of the distorted tray, and in order to facilitate the shortening of theedge I8 into this curved form, we prefer to provide the lower edge ofthe lateral side walls of the tray with small recesses or notches I9.When the tray is bowed in this way, these notches will decrease in widthand will assistin enabling the -tray to assume this bowed form withoutany tendency of the tray to have its longitudinal axis shift laterallyat any points along its length;

` In order to facilitate the operation of ejecting the cubes from thecells, we prefer to have the inside faces 20 of the transverse walls 4,diverge from eachother in an upward direction. So, in forming thesetransverse walls we prefer to form them with an upper portion 2l withvertical parallel sides down to a considerable depth, and below thislevel each wall is formed with cuneiform portions 22 to a further depth,the widest portion of the wedge, or cuneiform, shape being below; andbelow these cuneiforrn portions the wall divides into two wall portions23 which stem from the cuneiform portions and extend down to uniteintegrally with the bottoms I4 of the cells. By reason of the upwarddivergence of the side faces 20,upward1y tapering clearance spaces 24are formed between all adjacent cells that are located in the same setor line extending longitudinally with the tray. These clearance spaces24 operate when the tray is bowed, to permit the wall p0rtions 23 toapproach each other, without pressing against each other. Such pressuremight interfere with the free movement in dislodging the blocks from thecells. In other words, we have a condition of tension at the lower faceof the bowed tray, and a condition of relieved compression between thecell walls in the upper portion of the bowed tray adjacent its concaveedge I8. This is a condition very favorable to ready dislodgement of thecubes.

The upper portions 25 of the lateral side walls, and the upper portion26 of the partition wall 6, have a cross-section preferablysubstantially the same as that of the portions 2I of the cross walls 4.In this way the upper portion of the tray will present a vertical cheek2l at each side, to lie adjacent to the side face 2B of the freezingpocket in the refrigerator when the tray is shoved into it. In Fig. 2,two trays constructed as described above, are shown in position, with anupper tray resting on a lower tray. It is possible for two of thesetrays to rest in this way without either tray collapsing from the weightof the water within it, or becoming distorted in form. This property oftrays having this construction, is derived largely from the presence ofthe cuneiform portions 22 in the transverse walls 4 that divide thecells from each other. In this connection, attention is particularlycalled to the right-hand portion of Fig. 2 from which it will be evidentthat from the medial longitudinal plane to the lateral side wall, aconsiderable depth of material extends, giving the eiTect of a stiffenerbetween each pair of cells in each set, and at the outer ends thesecuneiform portions 22 are formed with downwardly extending taperedprojections 29, which unite with the lower portions 30 of the Vlateralside walls which incline inwardly in a downward direction, preferably atthe same angle A as the opposite faces 3l, which are the faces of thewall portions 32 that stern downwardly from the cuneiform portion 33 ofthe longitudinal par tition wall 6. By reason of the thickenedtransverse walls and that of the longitudinal partition wall 6 at theircuneiform extensions, the rigidity of the tray is considerablyincreased.

Many other embodiments of the invention may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

We claim as our invention:

A refrigerator ice tray to be placed in a freezing compartment of arefrigerator, said tray composed entirely of a moldedplastic material,and having a plurality of water cells disposed in two longitudinallyextending rows, the cells in each row being disposed opposite to acorresponding cell in the other row, the lower portions of said cellshaving bottom walls, longitudinal side walls and transverse wallsintegral with the bottoni walls, .the said side walls of the cellsdiverging from each other upwardly from the bottom wall for a portion ofthe depth of the cells, and the end walls of the cells diverging upwardfrom the bottom wall for a portion of the depth of the cells. said trayhaving transverse intermediate walls common to the cells on each sidethereof and extending from the level of the upper edge of the tray downto the level at which the convergence of the end Walls and thetransverse Walls of the cells terminates, the clearance space betweenthe said diverging transverse walls of said cells operating when thetray containing ice cubes is held in an inverted position, to permit thesame to be bowed downwardly in an arc, thereby Widening the width of thecells between said common transverse walls, to facilitate thedislodgement of the cubes from the same, said tray presentingsubstantially vertical faces on its longitudinal side walls locatedabove the level of the said converging side waJls of the cells, ad-

jacent to the side walls of the freezing compartment when the tray is inplace therein.

FRED S. JAHN. JOSEPH A. CARMIEN. JOHN E. MULLINGS.

REFERENCES CITED The followingreferences are of record in the le of thispatent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

